It seems that the analysis of character is the highest human entertainment. And literature does it, unlike gossip, without mentioning names.
Isaac Bashevis SingerWhile the poet entertains he continues to search for eternal truths, for the essence of being. In his own fashion he tries to solve the riddle of time and change, to find an answer to suffering, to reveal love in the very abyss of cruelty and injustice. Strange as these words may sound I often play with the idea that when all the social theories collapse and wars and revolutions leave humanity in utter gloom, the poet--whom Plato banned from his Republic--may rise up to save us all.
Isaac Bashevis SingerThe very essence of literature is the war between emotion and intellect, between life and death. When literature becomes too intellectual - when it begins to ignore the passions, the emotions - it becomes sterile, silly, and actually without substance.
Isaac Bashevis SingerNo lepidopterist's collection in the entire world...full if iridescent wings, is worth the life of a single butterfly.
Isaac Bashevis Singer